One of Scotland Yard's most wanted men has been arrested in the Netherlands, police said today.

Noel Cunningham was one of the UK's most wanted men. Photograph: Getty Images Getty Images/Getty Images

Noel Cunningham, 47, was detained late yesterday evening after being on the run for six years following his escape from police custody in June 2003.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) confirmed today that Cunningham was arrested by Dutch police in the Amstelveen area of Amsterdam, after joint work between Soca and the Dutch authorities.

Cunningham, who was facing charges in connection with an alleged plot to steal more than £1m from a Securicor van, was being escorted from Brixton prison, south London, to Inner London crown court when the prison van he was travelling in was ambushed by armed men.

The back door of the van was forced open by the gunmen and the driver shot in the knee. It was alleged that the attack was staged so that Cunningham and his accomplice, Clifford Hobbs, could escape. A third man, not known to the pair, also escaped but handed himself in shortly afterwards. Hobbs was arrested in the Costa del Sol region of Spain in 2007 and received a life sentence in February 2008.

Detectives had thought Cunningham was living in Spain but he was traced to the Netherlands after Soca uncovered the false identity he was using.